Chapter 371 — Don’t Gamble
6 min read ·
"That’s not–"
"And now that I’m thinking about it." She tapped her fingers on her knee, unhurried, like she was working through evidence. "You also risked your life for Lysa in the second portal."
"That was a completely different–"
"Damian Valcor." She reached forward and grabbed his collar with both hands, pulling him slightly closer, her face perfectly serious. "Do you enjoy playing the heroic savior for women in distress? Because I’m noticing a pattern." Her silver eyes narrowed. "Were you a playboy in your past life?"
He looked at her hands on his collar. Then at her face.
He picked up the bottle and drank from it directly.
Luna waited, still holding his collar.
He lowered the bottle.
"I never..." He stopped. "I never really... understood it. Romance."
Luna looked at him.
The corner of her mouth moved first, the rest of the expression arriving slowly behind it.
"Never understood it," she repeated.
"No."
"Meaning you’ve never..." She tilted her head. "Liked someone? Got flustered? Didn’t know what to say?"
"I knew what to say. I just didn’t care enough."
"Mmm."
She let go of his collar, folded her hands in her lap and looked at him with the patient expression of someone who has just been handed something and is deciding what to do with it.
’Why does that look always feel like a trap.’
"What about now?" she asked. "Do you care now?"
"Luna."
"That’s not an answer."
"It’s the only answer you’re getting."
She nodded once, very slowly and very seriously.
"So you’ve never been flustered by a girl."
"No."
"Not even once."
"No."
"Not even a little–"
"Luna–"
"What about me?"
The question arrived without warning, the alcohol having cleared whatever usually sat between the thought and the words. Her silver eyes held his, direct and entirely unbothered by what she’d just asked.
Damian’s mouth opened.
’....’
He looked at the wall, then at the bottle, then at the wall again.
Luna watched all of this happen.
She didn’t say anything as she didn’t need to.
People who were genuinely unaffected didn’t need three attempts to find somewhere to put their eyes. His avoidance was louder than any answer he could have given, and from the slight tilt of her head, she knew it.
"You aren’t even looking at me," she said.
"...I was thinking."
"Damian." Her voice carried the particular patience of someone who has already won. "You’ve survived two portals.... You’ve fought things that would make most people lose their minds. You ran a criminal organization at sixteen." She paused. "I asked you just one question."
But he said nothing.
Luna’s gaze moved to his jaw that was clenching and then back up to his face, and she didn’t comment on it, which was somehow worse than if she had.
"Lucky for you," she said quietly, the teasing draining out of her voice until what was left was something she meant entirely, "I’m very patient."
She held his gaze for just a moment longer than the conversation required.
’I need to end this conversation immediately.’
Damian stood up.
"Alright." His voice was working hard. "It’s time for you to go back to your dormitory."
"No." Luna spread herself across his bed with the decisive energy of someone staking a territorial claim, arms and legs taking up maximum available space. "I’ll sleep here... Just like when we were kids."
"Luna."
"I’m not moving."
"Luna, please."
She looked up at him from the pillow with complete serenity.
He stood there, looked at the ceiling and looked back at her.
’Sigh... I guess this is enough for today. He won’t allow me to stay.’
Then he turned and crouched, and she climbed onto his back without being asked, arms settling around his neck.
"I’m drunk." Her voice was close to his ear, unhurried. "You carry me."
He stood up straight, hooked his arms under her knees, and opened the door.
****
The corridor was dark and empty.
He walked without hurrying, her arms stayed around his neck tightly, her chin somewhere near his jaw, her weight fully settled against his back.
They passed through the covered walkway between buildings as the night wind came through the open sides.
Neither of them spoke.
’I couldn’t even look at her,’ he thought.
He kept walking.
When he found her door and set her down on the bed, her hand caught his wrist before he could straighten up.
He went still.
Her grip was light, her silver eyes were open in the dark, looking up at him with nothing left performing in them.
"Don’t ever do that again..." Her voice came out quiet, the teasing completely gone, worn down to what lived underneath it. "Don’t gamble with your life... Not for Elizabeth, not for anyone."
She took a pause.
"Nothing is worth more than you... Understood?"
He looked at her face.
"...Okay."
She held his gaze one more moment. Then she let go.
He left, pulling the door shut behind him with barely a sound.
Luna lay still in the dark, listening to his footsteps fade down the corridor.
Her hand rested where it had held his wrist.
She stared at the ceiling, the room quiet around her.
’Let’s see how long you can keep this up,’ she thought, and despite everything, the corner of her mouth moved.
Then she closed her eyes.
****
The walk back to his dormitory was quiet.
Damian’s footsteps echoed against the stone pathway as he moved through the Academy grounds. The night air was cool against his face, carrying the scent of grass and distant rain.
His mind turned over the events of recent days like stones in a river, each memory sharp and weighted.
’The Aura levels should be rising soon.’
The thought came unbidden, pulling from memories of the novel.
He looked up at the sky, dark and clear, stars scattered across it like broken glass.
’The sky should turn red... The world’s ambient Aura will spike, beasts will grow stronger, portals will become unstable...’
His hands slid into his pockets as he walked.
’And humanity will face its greatest challenge since the portals first opened.’
The timing felt right. The talent surge last year, the way Seraphina and others kept hinting at approaching catastrophe, the Federation’s desperation to prepare students faster than normal.
’It’s time for the novel events to start I guess... Maybe days, maybe weeks... But it’s coming soon.’
A breeze picked up, rustling through nearby trees, carrying with it the promise of change.
Damian took another step forward.
And then the world twisted.
Whoosh
His body vanished from the pathway.
There was no warning, no sensation and simply no time to resist or even process what was happening.
Just there one moment, gone the next, pulled by a force that treated space itself like a suggestion rather than a rule.